Hormonal imbalance is a common problem in all age groups, especially in women during certain ages in life like puberty, menstruation, pregnancy, menopause, and ageing. But did you know that even poor lifestyle choices can have an impact on your hormones and lead to long-term illnesses? Hormonal imbalance and subsequent unanticipated health issues can be caused by stress, a sedentary lifestyle, fatty foods, and insufficient sleep.
Hormones are tiny molecules that play a crucial role in maintaining a healthy internal state of the body. Hormones, which are involved in a variety of physiological processes, can be altered by certain lifestyle practises. Various skin diseases and illnesses can be brought on by hormonal imbalances.
There are several hormones in the body that affect the blood sugar level, blood pressure, growth, fertility, sex drive, metabolism, and even sleep. Their influence can change the way we act, think, and spend our day-to-day activities.
Major body issues can result from hormonal imbalances. There are significant lifestyle changes that can cause an imbalance in the body.
Nutrition and Diet:
What you eat plays a big role in maintaining hormonal balance. Eating a healthy, nutritious and balanced diet can help in promoting hormonal balance. Eat foods rich in proteins, iron, vitamins, carbohydrates, and healthy fats like egg yolks, ghee, and fatty fish.
It’s also important to maintain a healthy weight along with a healthy diet. Women with a higher body mass index have higher chances of experiencing hormonal imbalance.
Caffeine:
Consuming caffeine actually recreates stress conditions for the body. Human studies have shown that caffeine increases hormones such as cortisol and epinephrine during resting periods. Extra caffeine can also disrupt sleep, which is the body’s best mechanism to reboot, but when you’re lacking sufficient quality sleep, your healthy hormone production is often suppressed too. This cycle, as you can imagine, is one that goes on loop, setting off another day of endocrine disruption and dysfunction.
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Alcohol Consumption:
Alcohol induces a decrease in LHRH, LH, testosterone, and progesterone and an increase in estradiol and FSH. Alcohol markedly disrupts normal menstrual cycling in female humans and rats. Alcoholic women are known to have a variety of menstrual and reproductive disorders, from irregular menstrual cycles to complete cessation of menses, absence of ovulation, and infertility.
Smoking:
Smoking has the potential to alter reproductive hormones like oestrogen and testosterone, in addition to raising your risk of lung cancer. Additionally, numerous studies indicate that it shortens the reproductive cycle and reduces women’s fertility.
Cosmetics with high chemical content:
Cosmetic products high in endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can lead to hormonal imbalance, affect fertility, induce early puberty, and cause cancer and abnormalities in reproductive organs.
It is normal for humans to experience at least one or two periods of hormonal imbalance in their lives. But if you want to avoid this, a healthy diet and a healthy weight need to be maintained. Eating a diet high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and getting regular exercise can help maintain hormonal imbalances.